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Monday, July 7, 2014

Got Bleach?

Yap, who needs ink when you have bleach!  It's a long weekend and I was excited to fill in the extra hours with some crafting goodness.  This is a technique I wanted to try for a while now and few weeks ago I remembered to get bleach so I can finally give it a try.  I had to force myself to walk away after five cards, so much fun!!!

I grabbed my pack of new In Color cardstocks to see how they react with bleach.  As you can see from the picture above, the results from each color were quite different.  I used all the new colors on my cards except hello honey because the result with hello honey was more like a watermark effect and not a distinct impression.  I was surprised that bleach doesn't work with black card stock.

First up is the blackberry bliss card.  The card base is crumb cake.  Love how the hardwood background turned out with bleach.

Next one is the mossy meadow card.  I stamped directly on the card and rubbed the edges on my bleach "pad" to get the distressed look.

Up next is the first lost lagoon card.  The base card is lost lagoon.  I stamped directly on the panel and dragged the edges on the bleach "pad" to get the matted look.  I added the twine to separate the sentiment.

On the second lost lagoon card, I used basic black cardstock for the card base.  This is the only card where I used ink for the sentiment.

And lastly, my favorite!  You'll notice that the images on this last card are sharper than images on the first four cards.  Why, you asked?  I started a new "pad" and inadvertently added less bleach than before.  The base card is blackberry bliss.  I love these three colors together - blackberry bliss, tangelo twist and mossy meadow.  The flower and leaves were stamped with bleach then fussy cut.

Here's the how to:
I placed four layers of folded paper towels inside an old SU stamp container and poured the bleach, this is what I kept referring to as my bleach "pad".  Don't soak the paper towels, start by adding a quarter cup of bleach. You can always add more if that's not enough to get a good impression.  Check out the side by side comparison, can you tell which one used more bleach?

Finally, the group shot.

One last thing, my hands needed extra moisturizer after handling all that bleach.  I think I'll lay off bleach for a while.


Cheers!!!

irene



Here are the supplies I used.  You can get them from my Online Store or by clicking each item directly.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

CCC01 - So Very Grateful

My card today is for the Creative Challenge Club's first sketch challenge.


Here's what I came up with.


This being my first challenge ever, I pretty much followed the sketch.  Can't wait for the next one.

Here are the supplies I used for this card.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Bloom with Hope Swap Birthday Card

Today I'm sharing the swap card I made for our group meeting in May.  I didn't plan on posting it because, in hindsight, I thought it looked uninspired and plain.  The thing that gets me every time I do these swaps is the "under 10-minute rule".  Majority of the cards I make takes more than ten minutes.  I struggle when I'm forced to stay within the time limit.  Afterwards, every time I see the extra ones on my work table, I hear this little voice in my head screaming "fix me!, do something!, embellish!!".


I finally did something!  First thing I changed is the card base - from shimmery white card stock to blackberry bliss.  Then I punched a couple of butterflies from vellum card stock and colored them with the new blendabilities.  I also colored the pearls with blendabilities.  Love how the flowers look like magnolias!  And I'm much happier with the stepped up version.  What do you think?


This whole exercise reminded me of a Steven Wright quote, "Everything is walking distance, if you have the time."  It's all about the time!  My day job revolves around deadlines that's why I like to take my sweet time when I sit down to decompress and make a card.

Cheers!!!

irene

You can get all the supplies and tools I used here.


Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Clean and Simple - Negative Die Cut

Here's a quick and easy card I made recently, in between all the cards with lots of coloring and sponging.

The base card is island indigo (retired) card stock.  I die cut the tulips using the retired Backyard Basics Thinlit Dies.  I scored two horizontal lines on the top and bottom of the main panel then added the baker's twine and the birthday sentiment.  Done!




I'm off to check out my die collection to see what other negative die cut I can use for more quick and easy cards.

Until next time...........

Cheers everyone!!!

irene


Sunday, June 8, 2014

Card in a Box - Birthday Balloons

Today I'm sharing the card I made for my son's fifteenth birthday.  Up until his 10th birthday, I used to sneak in his bedroom the night before his birthday and fill his room with balloons.  He would wake up with balloons floating everywhere.  A couple of weeks ago he asked me if he was getting balloons on his birthday.  This year though I just got him a balloon bouquet and set them up in the living room with his birthday presents.  He was still surprised and he ate his breakfast surrounded by balloons.  It warms my heart that at fifteen he has fond memories of  his childhood birthdays and still want to have that experience.  That leads us to this card in a box exploding with balloons, I stopped at fifteen balloons and he loves it!


The "happy" banner and the gold and sliver balloons are leftovers from a project I made years ago that I have been saving for just the right card.  They came in real handy for this card.  I die cut scrap card stocks using Papertrey Ink's balloon dies.  The sentiments are from Stampin'Up's Itty Bitty Banners, Really Good Greetings and Yippee Skippee stamp sets.  The patterned papers are from the retired Color Collection Designer Series Paper Stack.


This is a collage I made in MDS, Stampin'Up's digital studio, to memorialize his growth in fifteen years.  I printed it but haven't found a 12 x 12 frame that I like.

I thank you for stopping by today, until next time......

Cheers!!!

irene